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CALVIN AND CHRIST by

David Bond In the minds of many people the name of John Calvin is synonymous with ‘predestination.’ A standard English dictionary defines Calvinism as, ‘The theological system of John Calvin and his followers, characterized by emphasis on predestination and justification.

1 However, when we turn to the writings and

sermons of Calvin himself, whilst the providence of God certainly one of his key concerns, as discussed in chapters 16 and 17 of Book I in the Institutes, it is significant that, in the final edition of the Institutes in 1559, he removed the discussion of predestination from Book Ito Book III. This suggests that predestination was not a priority for Calvin in the same way as for many of his theological heirs. As to why the confusion about Calvin in the popular mind, this is surely understandable in the light of priority that so many Calvinists have given to predestination. It is also understandable in view of the way in which Calvinists regularly define the real essence of Calvinism in terms the so-called Five Points of Calvinism. As valuable as these Five Points may have been in their historical context as a response to the Remonstrants, for many Calvinists they can also be an obstacle to appreciating issues that were more central to his concerns. As to how Calvinism came to characterized, all too often with predestination as its key concern, I believe that Alistair McGrath, in his book A Life of John Calvin, gives an adequate explanation. McGrath points to a change of theological methodology in Beza. As he explains:

Where Calvin adopts an inductive and analytic approach to theology, focusing upon the specific historical event of Jesus Christ and moving out to explore its implications, De Bèze adopts a deductive and synthetic approach, beginning from general principles and proceeding to deduce their consequences for Christian theology . . . These general principles - the Divine decrees – are determined with reference to the doctrine of predestination, which thus assumes the status of a controlling principle . . .

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Here McGrath points us towards to what really was at the heart of Calvin’s theological and spiritual concerns, namely, the historical event of Jesus Christ. Calvin himself makes this clear when he says, in comment on Philippians 3:8 - ‘I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord’:

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. . . there are many things that have an appearance of excellence, but the knowledge of Christ surpasses to such a degree everything else by its sublimity, that, as compared with it, there is nothing that is not contemptible. Let us, therefore, learn from this, what value we ought to set upon the knowledge of Christ alone.

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He speaks just as emphatically in his Harmony of the Gospels, in comment on Luke 24:26 - ‘Thus it is written’:

The same words warn us of what end we must principally learn from the Law and the Prophets: as Christ is the end and soul of the Law, whatever we may learn without Him or apart from Him, is vain and unsatisfying.

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When we turn to the final version of the Institutes in 1559, which constitute the final, definitive, systematic, and logical ordering of his theology just six years before his death, we also see the key importance that he attaches to the person and work of Christ. In the first book, The Knowledge of God the Creator, he embarks on a full discussion of God as Triune in chapter 13, in which context he presents a full explanation of the person of Christ within the Triune Godhead. He then devotes the whole of his second book to The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ In the light this, I find it hard to resist Alister McGrath’s conclusion that, ‘If there is a centre of Calvin’s religious thought, that centre may reasonably be identified as Jesus Christ himself.’

6 The anomaly is,

1 See: Collins Concise Dictionary (Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.

2 Alister E McGrath, A Life of John Calvin (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1990), p.213 3 Phil 3:8

4 Philippians CD

5 Luke 24:26.

6 Alister McGrath, A Life of John Calvin (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1990), p.149.

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however, as Stephen Edmonson highlights in his book Calvin’s Christology, that Calvin’s ‘Christology . . . is too often ignored, underutilized, or mistaken in the cornucopia of modern Calvin scholarship.’

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In studying this great subject of Calvin and Christ, I shall be dealing with the Institutes as my most primary source, adopting mostly Calvin’s own logical ordering of his subject matter in the Institutes. But I shall also be drawing on his other commentaries, sermons and writings where appropriate. Before I proceed, however, may I emphasize, along with John Calvin, the danger of approaching the doctrine of Christ in a detached and coldly scholastic manner, such as we often find in discussions of the person and work of Christ. As Calvin himself says:

. . . the knowledge of God, as I understand it, is that by which we not only conceive that there is a God, but also grasp what befits us and is proper to his glory . . . we shall not say that . . . God is known where there is no religion or piety.

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Here indeed is pure and real religion: faith so joined with an earnest fear of God that this fear also embraces willing reverence, and carries with it such legitimate worship as is prescribed in the law.

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What praise can we offer him? To be brief, we must be sure of the infinite good that is done to us by our Lord Jesus Christ, in order that we may be ravished in love with our God and inflamed with a proper zeal to obey him, and keep ourselves strictly in awe of him with all out thoughts, with all our affections, and with all our hearts.

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In other words, if we can study Calvin’s doctrine of Christ without being inwardly stirred by an increased sense of His glory and love, an increasing love for Him, and a growing desire to serve and obey Him, then we have missed the vibrant and warmly spiritual heart of John Calvin.

1. THE CENTRALITY OF CHRIST Having highlighted the centrality of Christ for Calvin, I want to demonstrate now in precisely what sense Christ was central for Calvin. Our starting point is in Calvin’s underlying distinction between God as He is in Himself and God as He is revealed to us. As Paul Helm explains:

He is drawing a contrast between two different kinds of knowledge; namely, the knowledge that we may have of God – which is partial, multiform, and accommodated to our capacity – and the knowledge that God, and only God, has of himself. In Jerome Gellman’s terms, God has an ‘inner life.’

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Stephen Edmonson precisely what this implies with Christ. He says:

Fundamental to Calvin’s theology is the intuition of the infinite gap between God and humanity, a gap grounded in our creatureliness and exacerbated by our sin. We have no capacity for God, so God capacitates Godself to us . . . God in Christ brings Godself down to our level so that God might communicate God’s will and grace to us. God in Christ condescends.

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In other words, because God is infinite and we are finite, our understanding of God is unavoidably finite and partial. Nevertheless, we can still know God in a real way insofar as He has revealed Himself to us in and through Christ - Christ the Mediator, who not only reconciles us to God, but who, in His very person and works, reveals God to us. As Calvin says:

‘God is not to be sought out in His unsearchable height, but is to be known by us, in so far as He manifests himself in Christ.’

13 ‘All thinking about God without Christ is a vast abyss which

immediately swallows up all our thoughts.’ 14

‘Irenaeus writes that the Father, himself infinite,

7 S Edmonson. Calvins’ Christology (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p.2

8 Institutes I.2.1

9 Institutes I.3.2

10 Sermons 20 on Ephesians (Banner of Truth), p.295

11 Paul Helm, Calvin’s Ideas (Oxford University Press, ), p.30.

12 Stephen Edmonson, Calvin’s Christology (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p.38

13 2 Cor 3:6 (CD)

14 Comm. 1 Pet 1:20

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becomes finite in the Son, for he has accommodated himself to our little measure, lest our minds be overwhelmed by the immensity of his glory.’

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Or as Charles Wesley says so simply, but beautifully: ‘Our God contracted to a span, Incomprehensibly made man.’

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Calvin also insists that Christ is the central, unifying key to Scripture, Old Testament and New. As he explains in his preface to Olivétan’s French Translation of the New Testament:

This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture: truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in him, and are offered to us by him from God the Father. If one were to sift thoroughly the Law and the Prophets, he would not find a single word which would not draw and bring us to him . . . our minds ought to come to a halt at the point where we learn in Scripture to know Jesus Christ and him alone, so that we can be led by him to the Father who contains in himself all perfection.

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Again, in comment on Romans 10:4 - ‘Christ is the end [completion, perfection] of the law’ - he says:

. . . every doctrine in the law, every command, every promise, always points to Christ. We are therefore to apply all its parts to him . . . the law in all its parts has reference to Christ, and therefore no one will be able to understand it correctly who does not constantly strive to attain this mark.

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Most certainly, Calvin believed in the ‘plain sense’ of Scripture, but for Calvin, the ‘plain sense’ of Scripture, from beginning to end, centred on, revealed, and pointed to Christ. I should add that many Old Testament theologians today would deny Calvin’s Christ-centred view of the Old Testament, but we shall see later something of how Calvin vindicates his claim – as I believe, convincingly.

2. THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST When Emil Brunner published his work The Mediator in 1927, he placed the person of Christ before the work of Christ. When, however, he published his 2

nd volume of Dogmatics in 1949, he reversed the order, placing

the work of Christ before the person of Christ. The implication is that what Christ has done for us is more important than who Christ is. Stephen Edmonson goes so far as to suggest that even for Calvin, ‘Christology turns not on the question of who Jesus was, but rather around the axes of what Christ has done to save.’

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If Edmonson is correct that what Charles Partee say in his Theology of John Calvin of Brunner could also be said of Calvin:

Beginning with the work of Christ can improperly focus on the benefits of Christ to the neglect of His person, indicating interest selfishly concentrated on what Christ does for us without properly reverent attention to Christ Himself.

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As Partee highlights, however, this is certainly not true of Calvin, who, in his Institutes, very clearly discusses the person of Christ is discussed before the work of Christ. Certainly, Calvin often refers to the benefits that we receive from Christ, but as Calvin very clearly emphasizes:

. . . there are many things that have an appearance of excellence, but the knowledge of Christ surpasses to such a degree everything else by its sublimity, that, as compared with it, there is nothing that is not contemptible. Let us, therefore, learn from this, what value we ought to set upon the knowledge of Christ alone.

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When we look at the life and teaching of Calvin general, it could hardly be clearer that Calvin lived for the glory of God and Christ, over and above all human ambitions, concerns and needs. In this, he stands in marked contrast to so much Christian practise today, in which the norm appears to be ‘worship’ which is man-centred and man-pleasing, along with a concern more for the blessings that Christ gives than for His person and glory. What we need to learn from Calvin is his pre-eminent concern for the person and glory of

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II.6.4 16

‘Let earth and heaven combine’ 17

Quoted in: Ne MacDonald and C Trueman, Calvin, Barth, and Reformed Theology (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock,

2008), p.155 18

Romans, p.221-222. 19

S Edmonson, Calvin’s Christology (Cambridge University Press, 2004) p.42. 20

Charles Partee, The Theology of John Calvin (Louisville, London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), p.144 21

Philippians CD

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Christ, leading to and ever-increasing desire to love and serve Him, and to impart our vision of His glory to others.

3. THE DEITY OF CHRIST In Book I of the Institutes Calvin says that God ‘so proclaims himself as the true God as to offer himself to be contemplated in three persons.’

22 His point is that we only truly know God when we know Him as Triune -

Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Calvin’s point also implies that true believers cannot join in modern multi-faith services on the supposed common ground of worshipping a ‘god’ who, in the minds of other worshippers, is not Triune. Within the context of the Trinity, Calvin gives his detailed exposition of the Person of Christ as the eternal Word and Son of God. Speaking of the pre-existence of Christ the Word or Son, he says in comment on John 1 that He was ‘begotten of the Father before time’. He links this with Proverbs 8, where he sees Christ as the person of Wisdom, by whom God created all things.

23 In the same context, Calvin depicts Christ as

God’s ‘intermediary’, by whom He spoke Creation into existence and through whom He presides over all things.

24 In other words, for Calvin, Christ did not become Mediator for the first time in His incarnation, but

exercised a mediatorial in Creation itself, as also in the ongoing work of providence. 25

As to why Christ is called the ‘Logos’ or ‘Word’, Calvin explains in his commentary on John 1:

I think he calls the Son of God ‘the Word’ simply because, first, He is the eternal wisdom and will of God, and secondly, because He is the express image of His purpose. For just as in men speech is called the expression of the thoughts, so it is not inappropriate to apply this to God and say He expresses Himself to us by His Speech or Word.

Calvin explains further in his commentary on John 1:

And the Word was with God . . . this expression attributes to Him a hypostasis distinct from the Father . . . And the Word was God . . . Lest any doubt should remain as to Christ’s divine essence, he clearly declares that he is God.

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As to what this means for us, Calvin explains in comment on Colossians 1:18:

God in himself, that is, in his naked majesty, is invisible, and that not to the eyes of the body merely, but also to the understandings of men, and that he is revealed to us in Christ alone, that we may behold him as in a mirror. For in Christ he shews us his righteousness, goodness, wisdom, power, in short, his entire self.

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Or again in his commentary on Hebrews 2:3:

The radiance in the substance of God is so mighty that it hurts our eyes, until it shines on us in Christ. It follows from this that we are blind to the light of God unless it illumines us in Christ.

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Turning to John 1:9, ‘That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world,’ Calvin shows how Christ had a mediatorial role towards all mankind, believer and non-believer alike, in revealing God and giving light to men. Calvin says:

. . . beams of this light are shed upon the whole race of men . . . For we know that men have this unique quality above the other animals, that they are endowed with reason and intelligence and that they bear the distinction between right and wrong engraven in their conscience. Thus there is no man to whom some awareness of the eternal light does not penetrate.

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Institutes I13.2 23

Institutes I,13.7 24 Insitutes II.13.7. 25 See discussion and references in: S Edmonson, Calvin’s Christology (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p.29-31 26

Calvin’s Commentaries, The Gospel According to John (Edinburgh: The St Andrew Press, 1959), p.7, 9. 27

Col 1:18 (CD) 28

Heb 2:3. 29

The Gospel According to John, pp.14-15.

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Returning to the Institutes, Calvin proceeds from Christ the Word to a defence of Christ’s full deity. He turns initially to the Old Testament, interacting in the process with the views of the Jewish Rabbis as to the verses under consideration. Calvin highlights the natural translation of Psalm 45:6, which says of the coming king, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever’. He directs us to Isaiah 9:6ff, where the coming king of Israel is unmistakeably addressed as ‘mighty God’. He points to the Old Testament appearances of ‘Mal’ak Adonai – the Angel of the Lord’

30 in which the Angel or Messenger of the Lord is identified as the LORD.

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the New Testament, Calvin looks first at various New Testament quotations from the Old, turning then to various direct New Testament declarations of the deity of Christ. He also sees in the miracles of Christ manifestations and proofs of His divine power and nature.

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In contradistinction to many Evangelical scholars today, Calvin maintains the eternal generation of the Son. It would appear that the main objection to the doctrine of eternal generation today is rationalistic, the charge being made that eternal generation implies the existence of the Father prior to the Son. But we must surely never forget that the whole doctrine of the Trinity is an ineffable mystery to our finite minds, implying that we cannot rule out a doctrine on purely rational grounds. It should also be noted that if we rejecting the eternal generation of the Son, and with it the concept of Sonship from all eternity, it becomes difficult, if not impossible to explain, in what sense Jesus was Son of God before His birth in Bethlehem. For Calvin, as mysterious as this doctrine may be, it is the doctrine of Scripture. As Calvin expresses it in his Institutes and other places, ‘he was the eternal Word begotten before all ages from the Father’.

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explanation, Calvin insists that it was not His substance as God which was begotten of the Father, but His distinct personhood within the Godhead. As Calvin puts it, ‘Thus his essence is without beginning; while the beginning of his person is God himself’.

34 This is the doctrine of Nicene Creed when it says:

I believe in . . . one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made.

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4. CHRIST IN THE OLD COVENANT

[Relegate much of following to the footnotes] Calvin says in the 2

nd Book of the Institutes that, ‘After the fall of the first man no knowledge of God apart

from the Mediator has had power unto salvation’. 36

Among other things, this implies, Calvin says, that even the salvation of the Jewish people under the Old Covenant was in and through Christ the Mediator. As Calvin puts it:

Accordingly, apart from the Mediator, God never showed favour toward the ancient people, nor ever gave hope of grace to them . . . the blessed hope and happy state of the church always had its foundation in the person of Christ . . . the original adoption of the chosen people depended upon the Mediator’s grace.

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Or as Calvin says even more directly, ‘the hope of the godly has ever reposed in Christ alone’

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How can Calvin say this of those who lived before Christ’s birth? At the heart of Calvin’s view is his understanding of underlying unity of the Covenant of Grace between Old Testament and New. He is convinced that there has only ever been just one means of salvation, namely, the Covenant of Grace. He finds this at the heart of God’s covenant with Abraham, a covenant with the Jewish nation, most certainly, but a covenant also which pointed to Christ and reached its full fruition and fulfilment in and through Christ in the New Covenant. So, in comment on Genesis 22:18, Calvin says, ‘in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,’ Calvin says, ‘the victory is promised, not to the sons of Abraham promiscuously, but to Christ, and to His members.

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Gen 32:22-29; Judg 6:11-22; 7:5,9; Zech 2:1-5/[Gen 32:22-29; Judg 6:11-22; 7:5,9; Zech 2:1-5] 31

Institutes 1.13.9-10. 32

Institutes I.13.11-12. 33

Institutes I.13.24 34

Institutes I.13.25 35

As in: The Book of Common Prayer, The Communion. 36

Institutes II.6.1 37

Institutes II.6.2 38

Institutes II.6.3 39

Genesis 22:18.

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Or again, in his Institutes:

For even if God included all of Abraham’s offspring in his covenant, Paul nevertheless wisely reasons that Christ is properly the seed in whom the nations were to be blessed . . .

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This, of course, raises the question of just how much Abraham himself understood of Christ in relation to this covenant. Commenting on ‘Abraham rejoiced to see my day’ in John 8:56, Calvin says:

Although the knowledge of Christ was still so obscure, Abraham was inflamed by such strong desire, that he prized its consummation above all good things . . . . But the question arises, How, even with the eyes of faith, did Abraham see the revelation of Christ? . . . I reply, faith has its degrees of seeing Christ. The ancient prophets saw Christ afar off, as He had been promised to them, and yet were not permitted to behold Him present . . .

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By way of further explanation, Calvin says:

. . . the original adoption of the chosen people depended upon the Mediator’s grace. Even if in Moses’ writings this was not expressed in clear words, still it sufficiently appears that it was commonly known to all the godly.

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Time does not allow me to refer to the many Old Testament prophecies of Messiah which calvin deals with in his commentaries.

43 But Calvin insists that that:

. . . all the prophets were constantly at pains to proclaim that kingdom of David upon which both redemption and eternal salvation depended.

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He points to theophanies in the Old Testament as manifestations of Christ, not least, the pillar of cloud and fire (the ‘Shechinah’) which led the Children of Israel through the wilderness and rested on the mercy seat in tabernacle and temple.

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As to the Law, which Calvin defines as ‘the form of religion handed down by God through Moses’,

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various ways in which it pointed to or spoke of Christ. The Moral Law exposed the people’s failure before a holy God, placing all of them under the curse of the broken law, but in the process pointing them to Christ as the Redeemer from the curse of this broken law.

47 As to the sacrifices of the Law, Calvin says, ‘these

ceremonies guided them to Christ’. As he explains further:

. . . the Jews did not pay attention to these legal sacrifices in vain, since the promises were annexed to them; as often, therefore, as these sentences occur, “your iniquity shall be blotted out,’ – ‘ye shall appear before my face,” – “I will hear you from the sanctuary,” we are reminded that all the ancient figures were testimonies of God grace and of eternal salvation; and thus Christ is represented in them, since all the promises are in Him, yea, and amen.

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Turning to the Passover, Calvin says:

. . . The Paschal lamb was a type of Christ, who by His death propitiated His Father, so that we should not perish with the rest of the world . . . God, then, shews that He spares the Israelites on no other condition but that of sacrifice; from whence it follows, that the death of Christ was set before them in this ordinances, which alone constituted the difference between them and the Egyptians.

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Institutes II6.2 41

St John 8:56 (Edinburgh: The St Andrew Press, 1959). 42

Institutes II.6.2. 43 As, for example: Gen 49:10; Psalm 45; Psalm 110; Isa 7:14; Isa 9; Isa 53. 44

Institutes II.6.3 45 Calvin says of the ‘Shechinah’: ‘Moses calls this same being an Angel, to which he now assigns the name of the eternal God. And with good reason, because the heavenly Father then led the Israelites only by the hand of His only-begotten Son.’ (Exodus 13:21, Commentary on the Four last Books of Moses, Exodus 13:21). 46

Institutes II.7.1 47

Institutes II.7.4; II.7.7; II.7.2. 48

See Commentary on 2nd

Commandment, Exodus 25:8, Commentary on the Four last Books of Moses 49

Calvin’s Commentaries Volume 2, Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses, Bk 1 (Grand Rapids,

Michigan: Baker Book House, 1979), p.221-222.

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Calvin also elaborates on the Levitical priesthood and the Day of Atonement as types of Christ.

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How far did those who lived under the Old Covenant understand the real significance of these ceremonies and sacrifices? Calvin suggests in the Institutes that a measure of understanding was available to them, insofar as the prophets spoke of single coming sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people. He directs us to Daniel 9:26-27 and Psalm 110,

51 whilst, in his commentary on Isaiah 53, he shows how it is an incredibly

vivid picture of the atoning death of Christ, under the figure of the Suffering Servant of the Lord. Calvin’s view of the Christological focus of the Old Testament does not rest on a few isolated proof texts. It rests, rather, on the whole, broad eschatological hope of the prophets. As Calvin says, ‘in them eternal life and Christ’s kingdom are revealed in their fullest splendour’.

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The 19

th century Jewish-Christian scholar Alfred Edersheim would agree with Calvin when he writes that,

‘this Messianic idea is the moving spring of the Old Testament. It is also its sole raison d’etre, viewed as revelation.’

53 This raises the question of why so many Jewish people in and after the time of Jesus have

rejected His claim to be the Jewish Messiah. Calvin’s answer (with which I would broadly agree, in the light of my own study of the writings of the period) is that the Jewish people in the time of Christ had lost the full understanding of the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy, and that ‘among the Jews the scribes obscured with false glosses what the prophets had taught concerning the Redeemer’.

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5. THE INCARNATE CHRIST

Comparing the more obscure revelation of the Old Testament with the full revelation of God in the Christ in the New Testament, Calvin says:

It was fitting that, before the sun of righteousness had arisen, there should be no great and shining revelation, no clear understanding. The Lord, therefore, so meted out the light of his Word to them that they still saw it afar off and darkly . . . What did the Law and the Prophets teach to men of their own time? They gave a foretaste of that wisdom which was one day to be clearly disclosed and pointed to it twinkling afar off. But when Christ could be pointed out with the finger, the Kingdom of God was opened. In Him have been revealed “all the treasures of wisdom and understanding” whereby we attain to the innermost sanctuary of heaven.

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As to the necessity of the incarnation, Calvin says:

Now it was of the greatest importance for us that he who was to be our Mediator be both true God and true man . . . Since our iniquities, like a cloud cast between us and him, had completely estranged us from the Kingdom of Heaven, no man, unless he belonged to God, could serve as the intermediary to restore peace . . . The situation would have been hopeless had the very majesty of God not descended to us, since it was not in our power to ascend to him. Hence it was necessary for the Son of God to become for us “Immanuel, that is, God with us, and in such a way that his divinity and our human nature might by mutual connection grow together . . . So great was the disagreement between our uncleanness and God’s perfect purity! Even if man had remained free from all stain, his condition would have been too lowly for him to reach God without a Mediator.

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Turning to the motive for the Incarnation, Calvin says in his commentary on John 3:16:

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Calvin’s Commentaries Volume 2, Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses, Vol 2 (Grand Rapids,

Michigan: Baker Book House, 1979), p.191, 315. 51

II.7.2. 52

Institutes II.10.15. 53

A Edersheim, Prophecy and History (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House1955), p.135 54 Institutes: II.VI.4. Or as Edersheim observes: ‘ . . . these men had no longer the proper Messianic ideal before their minds; that their conception of Him was no longer true to the Old Testament, nor yet spiritual, but that traditionalism had overgrown and crushed out the Old Testament teaching in its higher bearing; in one sentence, - that the religion of the Old Testament had already been transformed into Judaism. Our Lord indeed bade them search the Old Testament as bearing testimony to Him, but their eyes were holden by the hand of their Pharisaic leaders and their heart was hardened not to perceive their meaning.’ See: A Edersheim, Prophecy and History

(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1955), p.165-166. 55

Institutes II.9.5. 56

Institutes II.11.1

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Christ shows the first cause and as it were source of our salvation. And this He does that no doubt may be left. For there is no calm haven where our minds can rest until we come to God’s free love . . . He ascribes the cause for our salvation entirely to His love.

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Or again, in a sermon on the deity of Christ, Calvin says:

The word ‘Gospel’ declares how God loved us when He sent our Lord Jesus Christ into the world . . . The word ‘Gospel’ indicates that God in sending our Lord Jesus Christ His Son declares Himself Father to all the world.’

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Explaining the Incarnation more fully, Calvin says in his Calvin’s exposition of 1 Tim 3:16:

He could not have spoken more appropriately about the person of Christ than in these words, “God manifested in the flesh.” First, we have here an express testimony of both natures; for he declares at the same time that Christ is true God and true man. Secondly, he points out the distinction between the two natures, when, on the one hand, he calls him God, and, on the other, expresses his “manifestation, in the flesh.” Thirdly, he asserts the unity of the person, when he declares, that it is one and the same who was God, and who has been manifested in the flesh.

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Similarly, he writes in relation to John 1:14:

First, in Christ, two natures were united in one person in such a way that one and the same Christ is true God and man. Second, the unity of His person does not prevent His natures from remaining distinct, so that the divinity retains whatever is proper to it, and the humanity likewise has separately what belongs to it.

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This, of course, is the doctrine of Christ as expressed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD:

We all teach, with one accord, one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ . . . who for us men, and for our salvation was born of the Virgin Mary . . . Lord – only begotten, confessed in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division or separation. The difference of the natures is in no way denied by reason of their union; on the other hand, the peculiarity is preserved, and both concur in the one Person and on Hypostasis.

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Calvin’s doctrine of the person of Christ stands in marked contrast to much Lutheran theology, which, in its endeavor to maintain the full unity of Christ’s person, laid great stress on the communicatio idiomatum – that is, the transference of attributes from one nature to the other. Whilst Luther himself sought to maintain a balance in teaching a two-way transference of attributes, later Lutheran theologians often laid so much emphasis on the communication of various divine attributes to the human nature of Christ (such as omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience) that they underplayed the humanity of Christ. Calvin seeks to apply his Chalcedonian understanding of the dual nature of Christ in his commentaries on the Gospels. In these he is particularly concerned emphasize the real humanity of Christ, whilst nevertheless drawing attention to the manifestations of His Divine nature. As Calvin says:

Thus, also, the Scriptures speak of Christ: they sometimes attribute to him what must be referred solely to his humanity, sometimes what belongs uniquely to his divinity; and sometimes what embraces both natures but fits neither alone.

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To take one example from Matt 14:23ff, where Jesus sent His disciples out in a boat, whilst He Himself went up into a mountain to pray, as Edmonson observes:

. . . in the above example, he demonstrates his human nature by praying, indicating both his need of God and his affection toward those for whom he prays. Later in the story, Christ walks on water, a miracle, and thereby displays his divine power.

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57

John 3:16, The Gospel according to St John (Edinburgh: The St Andrew Press, 1959). 58

The Deity of Christ, Sermons on the Saving Work of Christ (Welwyn: Evangelical Press, 1980), p.113 59

1 Tim 3:16 (CD) 60

John 1:14 61

As quoted in : S Cave, The Doctrine of the Person of Christ (London: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, 1925), p.115 62

Institutes II.14.1.

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Whilst Calvin sees Christ’s divinity in His miracles in general, he also highlights that certain incidents reveal Christ’s divinity more clearly. At the same time, he traces a line of progress in the revelation of Christ’s divinity from the Transfiguration, to the Resurrection and Ascension, the Second Coming, and the final manifestation of Christ’s inherent glory when He yields the mediatorial kingdom to the Father. With reference to the Transfiguration, Calvin explains that it gave his disciples ‘a taste of His infinite glory.’

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With reference to the Resurrection, Calvin says in comment on Rom 1:4:

Therefore, Paul states that “Christ was declared the Son of God . . . in the resurrection itself” because then at last he displayed his heavenly power, which is both the clear mirror of our divinity and the firm support of our faith.

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Linking Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension together, Calvin says:

Now having laid aside the mean and lowly state of mortal life and the shame of the Cross, Christ by rising again began to show forth his glory and power more fully . . . As his body was raised up above the heavens, so his power and energy were diffused and spread beyond all the bounds of heaven and earth.

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As to the Second Coming and the final state, when Christ ‘delivers the kingdom to God the Father’, Calvin comments:

. . . to Him lordship was committed by the Father, until such time as we should see His divine majesty face to face. Then He returns the lordship to His Father so that – far from diminishing His own majesty – it may shine more brightly. Then, also, God will cease to be head of Christ, for Christ’s own deity will shine of itself . . .

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6. PROPHET, KING AND PRIEST

Here we come to the central role of Christ as Mediator in His threefold office of Prophet, Priest and King. It would seem that, in devoting a separate chapter to this theme in the Institutes [II.15], Calvin was the first theologian to treat the threefold office of Christ in this systematic way. He was followed in this by some Lutheran theologians and most Reformed theologians.

68 Calvin highlights that, under the law prophets,

kings and priest were generally anointed with oil, hence the reason for applying the title of ‘Messiah-Anointed One’ to Christ as prophet-king-priest. As to the importance of Christ’s threefold office, Calvin explains that:

. . . in order that faith may find a firm basis for salvation in Christ, and thus rest in him, this principle must be laid down: the office enjoined upon Christ by the Father consists of three parts. For he was given to be prophet, king, and priest.

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Christ our Prophet. Calvin finds Christ’s prophetic office in Isa 61:1-2:as applied by Jesus to Himself in Luke 4:18:

The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me. Because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; to bring healing to the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives . . . to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.

Jesus applied this to Himself in Luke 4:18, in the light of which, Calvin says:

We see that he was anointed by the Spirit to be herald and witness of the Father’s grace . . . outside of Christ there is nothing worth knowing, and all who by faith perceive what he is like have grasped the whole immensity of heavenly benefits . . . the prophetic dignity in Christ leads us to

63

S Edmonson, Calvin’s Christology (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p.198 64

Harmony, vol.2, p.198. 65

Institutes II.16.13. 66

Institutes II.16.14 67

Institutes II.14.3 68

See: C Partee, The Theology of John Calvin (London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), p.163 69

Institutes II.15.1

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know that in the sum of doctrine as he has given it to us all parts are perfect wisdom are contained. 70

For Calvin, the true, God-appointed preacher of the Word has a certain share in this prophetic ministry of Christ. As Calvin expresses it:

. . . he received anointing, not only for himself that he might carry out the office of teaching, but for his whole body that the power of the Spirit might be present in the continuing preaching of the gospel.

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Christ our King. Calvin emphasizes in the Institutes that Christ’s kingship ‘is spiritual in nature’,

72 as also

that Christ’s kingship and kingdom are eternal. Applying this truth to the welfare of the church, he says:

. . . whenever we hear of Christ as armed with eternal power, let us remember that the perpetuity of the church is secure in this protection . . . the devil, with all the resources of the world, can never destroy the church, founded as it is on the eternal throne of Christ.

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Again, we as believers have a share in the kingly office of Christ. As Calvin says:

For we see that whatever is earthly is of the world and of time, and is indeed fleeting. Therefore Christ, to lift our hope to heaven, declares that his “kingship is not of this world.” In short, when any one of us hearts that Christ’s kingship is spiritual, aroused by this word let him attain to the hope of a better life; and since it is now protected by Christ’s hand, let him await the full fruit of this grace in the age to come.

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Applying the fact of Christ’s kingly reign pastorally, Calvin also says:

Thus it is that we may patiently pass through this life with its misery, hunger, cold, contempt, reproaches, and other troubles – content with one thing: that our King will never leave us destitute, but will provide for our needs until, our welfare ended, we are called to triumph.

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Christ our Priest. Here Calvin concerns himself with two aspects of Christ’s High Priesthood – reconciliation and intercession. As to reconciliation, Calvin says:

The priestly office belongs to Christ alone because by the sacrifice of his death he blotted out our own guilt and made satisfaction for our sins.

Not that His death was the beginning of Christ’s High Priestly work of atonement for sin, because as Calvin says:

. . . from the time when he took on the form of a servant, he began to pay the price of liberation in order to redeem us.

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With reference to the ongoing work of Christ as High Priest and its practical bearing on our present experience, Calvin informs us that:

. . . we or our prayers have no access to God unless Christ, as our High Priest, having washed away our sins, sanctifies us and obtains for us that grace from which the uncleanness of our transgressions and vices debars us . . . It follows that he is an everlasting intercessor: through his

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Institutes II.15.2 71

Institutes II.15.2. See also his comment on Acts 13:47: ‘. . . the whole substance of our salvation subsists in the

person of Christ. But since He acts through His ministers transferring His own functions to them, He also shares His

description with them. The preaching of the Gospel is in this class. He alone, indeed, has been appointed our Teacher

by His Father, but He has put pastors and ministers in His place to speak as if out of His mouth.’ 72

Insitutes II.15.3 73

Institutes II.15.4. 74

Institutes II.15.3. 75

Institutes II.15.4. 76

Institutes II.16.5.

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pleading we obtain favour. Hence arises not only trust in prayer, but also peace in godly consciences.’

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By way of further encouragement, Calvin says in comment on Hebrews 4:16:

. . . the way to God is open for all who trust in the mediation of Christ and come to Him. Indeed he encourages those who believe to be bold in presenting themselves before the sight of God, without any hesitation . . . when Christ accepts us into His faith and discipleship, He covers with His goodness the majesty of God which would otherwise be fearful, so that nothing appears except grace and fatherly goodwill.

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Again, Calvin underlines that every believer has a share in Christ’s priestly office:

For we who are defiled in ourselves, yet are priests in him, offer ourselves and our all to God, and freely enter the heavenly sanctuary that the sacrifices of prayers and praise that we bring may be acceptable and sweet-smelling before God.

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7. FAITH IN CHRIST

We turn now to the nature of justifying faith in Calvin’s teaching. With a clear emphasis on faith as the means by which receive the very person of Christ, along with all His spiritual benefits, Calvin says:

Christ was given to us by God’s generosity, to be grasped and possessed by faith. By partaking of him, we principally receive a double grace: namely, that being reconciled to God through Christ’s blamelessness, we may have in heaven instead of a Judge a gracious Father; and secondly, that sanctified by Christ’s Spirit we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life . . . we explain justification as the acceptance with which God receives us into His own favour as righteous men. And we say that it consists in the remission of sins and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness.

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. . . our righteousness is not in us but in Christ, that we possess if only because we are partakers in Christ; indeed, with him we possess all riches.

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Calvin underlines the passive aspect of faith. But this is where I believe Dr Kendall to be mistaken when he implies a totally passive view of saving faith in Calvin’s teaching in asserting that, ‘for Calvin faith as an instrument is God’s act, opening blind eyes.’

82 When Calvin defines the passive aspect of saving

faith, he does not suggest that it is something that simply happens to us by the sovereign power of God. Rather, for Calvin faith is passive insofar as it forgoes all of human endeavors to achieve salvation, and simply holds out an empty hand to recieve all from Christ. To put it in Calvin’s own words:

. . . faith is something merely passive, bringing nothing of ours to the recovering of God’s favour but receiving from Christ that which we lack.

83 We compare faith to a kind of vessel; for unless we

come empty and with the mouth of our soul open to seek Christ’s grace, we are not capable of receiving Christ.

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Often today, saving faith is defined in a depersonalised and formulaic manner, as if to say that faith is simply a formal transaction to be completed in a few easy steps. One modern leaflet says:

Accept and act upon God’s message in the Bible: Acknowledge past failure to treat God properly. Surrender your life to his loving authority. Rely on Jesus alone for acceptance by God. Then pray to God and tell Him your decision.

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Institutes II.16.6. 78

Hebrews 4:16.

79 Institutes II.16.6

80 Institutes III.11.2

81 Institutes III.11.23.

82 R T Kendall, Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649 (Oxford University Press, 1979), p.201

83 Institutes III.13.5.

84 Institutes III.11.7.

85 Christianity: A Pocket Guide (The Good Book Co)

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This is far removed from Calvin’s vibrantly personal definition of faith, in which there is a clear focus on looking to and receiving the person of Christ Himself, and seeing in Him God’s very heart poured out in love for us. Commenting on John 3:16, Calvin says:

The true look of faith, I say, is placing Christ before one’s eyes and beholding in Him the heart of God poured out in love.

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Or again, commenting on John 14:1:

. . . Christ holds out Himself as the object to which our faith, if it is directed, will easily find where it may rest . . . It is one of the leading articles of our belief, that our faith should be directed to Christ alone and not wander through round-about ways.

Again, very often, today saving faith is defined in a self-centred way, with all the emphasis on how we can acquire salvation by praying a prayer of confession and thanking God that Jesus died for our sins. In Calvin we find a much stronger emphasis on the person of God and our new relationship with God through faith. Calvins says:

St Paul has shown us so far that our salvation is the true mirror in which to behold the infinite glory of God, for it is his will to be known by his goodness above all things.

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. . . as Paul attests, faith is not true unless it asserts and brings to our mind that sweetest name of Father – nay, unless it opens our mouth freely to cry, “Abba, Father.”

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And I might add that, for Calvin, to call God ‘Abba – Father’ was not punctuate every prayer with casual references to God as Father, such as is often the case today, but to address God as ‘Abba – Father’ with feelings of deepest reverence, trust and love.

8. CHRIST ALONE For Calvin the only way of salvation is through faith in the Son of God, who died for our sins, rose again, and ascended into heaven. So for Calvin, this rules out any the false claims of Rome, and any other distortions of the pure Biblical faith of the Gospel. It also rules all other religions, not least, the Islam which was on his doorstep. For Calvin also, Christ alone is the source of every spiritual blessing for every believer – Christ, our all-sufficient Help and Saviour. As Calvin expresses it so vividly and helpfully:

If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is ‘of Him’. If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in His anointing. If we seek strength, it lies in His dominion; if purity, in His conception; if gentleness, it appears in His birth. For by His birth He was made like us in all respects that He might learn to feel our pain. If we seek redemption, it lies in His passion; if acquittal, in His condemnation; if remission of the curse, in His cross; if satisfaction, in His sacrifice; if purification, in His blood; if reconciliation, in His descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in His tomb; if newness of life, in His resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in His entrance into heaven; if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in His Kingdom; if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power of Him to judge. In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in Him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other.

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CONCLUSION

As I explained at the outset, if we can study this great doctrine of Christ in Calvin in a detached and purely scholastic manner, we have missed the true heart and mind of Calvin. This brings me back to where I started, with Calvin’s comments on Philippians 3:8:

. . . there are many things that have an appearance of excellence, but the knowledge of Christ surpasses to such a degree everything else by its sublimity, that, as compared with it, there is

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John 3:16 87

John Calvin’s Sermons on Ephesians (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1973), p.155 88

Institutes XIII. 89

Institutes II.16.19.

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nothing that is not contemptible. Let us, therefore, learn from this, what value we ought to set upon the knowledge of Christ alone.

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In the light of all of this, Calvin, clearly speaking from his heart as a Christ-centred man, says:

What praise can we offer Him? To be brief, we must be sure of the infinite good that is done to us by our Lord Jesus Christ, in order that we may be ravished in love with our God and inflamed with a proper zeal to obey him, and keep ourselves strictly in awe of him, to honour him with all our thoughts, with all our affections, and with all our hearts.

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Philippians CD 91

John Calvin’s Sermons on Ephesians (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1973), p.295